Yes I realised that I mentioned you about three times in the original post! I wasn't trying to harangue you into responding, but to indicate to others that i'd interacted with a well-known member of this forum in another place in case they thought "who's this guy?" and were a little wary of imparting too much information. I suppose that's an effect of me being a WFF member where, as you'll know, information on fishing locations is carefully managed to avoid over-exposure.

Anyway, thanks for replying and for the information provided. It's heartening to read your appraisal of the regulatory "quagmire". At least that means it wasn't me being slow I think too that i've come across the site for the place in Welches. I'll give it another look as I was doing specific searches for information on the Sandy rather than things like tackle/flies/guiding etc.

I've got a handle on the zones to some extent after downloading both the Oregon fishing regs. pdf and the Williamette Zone pdf too but as you confirm, these only go so far in explaining the "where". The "when" in terms of different species is much clearer though - or less unclear perhaps.

Very heartening to hear that the local fly anglers are a friendly, welcoming bunch. I look forward to meeting some people when I eventually get there - and hopefully yourself too once I start roaming further afield. If I recall I think you said you were in Medford further south? Yes, in fact your profile info on the post confirms that.

You mentioned the Umpqua and the Deschutes, both of which i've read about a little. I have an excellent book on Oregon backpacking routes by a guy called Douglas Lorain, and at least one of his itineraries covers wilderness treks in the vicinity of the Umpqua. He makes occasional mention of "good fishing" in some of his route descriptions for various areas without going into any detail, but it gave me starting points for further searches. I suppose too that the Clackamas is fairly close and a realistic destination even for day trips from the area of Oregon we're likely to be living? He also mentions good fishing in the Bull of the Woods wilderness area. I've read a little about the Spey Clave too. Glad to hear that is a "must visit" as it would obviously be pretty close by to our chosen locale.

Hopefully those more local to the area will be able to flesh things out a bit when/if they come across my post. Oh and I should stress that i'm not asking folks to impart info. on specific marks or fishing holes. I realise that we "fluff-flingers" (and anglers in general) often like to keep our favourite, productive spots a little close to our chests.